Naruto - A new adventure
by Exodius
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, the bane of the village, starts a new quest to gain the respect of the village. During the course of this story we will see Naruto make new friends, enemies and master new powers. Reviews are greatly appreciated as this is my first story.
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet day in the Village Hidden in the Trees, the normal activity seemed to have died down on this particular day and the area seemed to have a tense atmosphere around it. Today was the 7th anniversary of the day that the Nine Tailed Fox demon, Kyuubi, attacked the village causing mass chaos and death. On that day, the villages leader, the Hokage, sacrificed his life by sealing the great best into an infant, Naruto Uzumaki.

The citizens of the village, blinded by their hate of the great demon, for the following 7 years used Naruto as a scapegoat for their pain and loss. The villagers could not tell the difference between the jailed and the jailer. Ever since an infant, Naruto would be treated horribly and would, on a regular basis, be beaten up and chased through the streets of the village. Naruto only had one real friend, the third Hokage.

Even though he was the leader of the village, there was only so much that the Hokage could do for Naruto. One man against the whole of a village did not have that much power. The Hokage had sent Naruto to live at an orphanage but even here, a place designed to look after and care for children, cruelly mistreated Naruto because of the demon. Throughout all of this the child had no idea as to why he was hated to such a harsh degree. The Hokage had decreed that no one was to tell Naruto of his predicament, those that broke this rule would face death.

Later that day, the village prepared to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the defeat of the beast and to remember the death of their fallen leader. Many former ninja veterans and civilians who had lost family members were heavily drinking in an attempt to drown their sorrows away. This led to a mass group of villagers charging through the village all chasing after Naruto the boy they thought was the human reincarnation of the demon spirit.

Naruto was slowly cornered into a small one way alley way. Chants of "Kill the demon boy now" and "Quickly, do something to him before the Hokage gets here!" could be heard streets away from the scene. One ninja, a Jōnin, had taken this opportunity of Naruto's weakness and pinned him up against a way and started to punch him repeatedly without stopping whatsoever. Many shouted for harsher treatment and other people started to join in with the attack. Ninjas started to throw Kunai and Shurikin at the boy whilst the civilians through rocks and other heavy objects they could find around them.

Naruto throughout all of this screamed in agony and begged them to stop. He pleaded with them and cried out "What is it I have done to you?!" which only made the villagers even more angry with the boy. Naruto had by now fallen out of consciousness and was waiting for the end to come. All was thought to be over, when suddenly a group of Anbu, the villages highest ranked group of ninja, appeared with kunai behind each of the civilians and ninjas. Behind the group of ninja was the third great Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. "Anbu, take them to Ibiki for interrogation and torture." said the Hokage with authority laced in his voice.

He walked over to Naruto, still unconscious, and picked him up with both arms. Sarutobi, the third Hokage, whispered to Naruto in a more caring and affectionate manner "Come now Naruto, you will be staying with me tonight".


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto woke up and instantly didn't recognise where he was. "This isn't the orphanage" he thought. "Ah Naruto my boy, I see you are finally awake". Naruto jolted his head around and was greeted with the sight of Sarutobi smiling down on him. "Hey old man, why am I here? Where am I?" asked Naruto, with a worried expression on his face.

"Unfortunately Naruto, last night you were attacked again." spoke Sarutobi with an almost pained expression. Naruto looked down and put his head into his hands. "Please... Just please, tell me why they hate me. Tell me why they beat me.". Sarutobi looked lost for words, he hadn't expected Naruto to ask him that. For the last 3-4 years Naruto had never shown any interest into why he was ever beaten up and attacked. Sarutobi decided that it would not be the best idea to lie to the child. Sarutobi took a breath.

"Naruto.. As you very well know, 7 years ago the Great Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi, attacked the Village. Many lives were lost, but our great leader the fourth Hokage was able to defeat the demon and kill it. However, that story is not completely true. You see, my boy, he did not kill it per say. Instead, he sealed the great beast within a small boy. Do you have any idea who that boy might be?" Sarutobi asked. "So, it's me.. I'm the demon they always talk about. Maybe they're right, maybe I don't deserve to live.". "Naruto!" Sarutobi shouted. "Don't ever talk foolish nonsense like that again! You are the hero of the village, you are holding that great beast back. Only someone with a golden heart like yours could manage that. You are no demon, you are a saviour" Sarutobi explained to the young boy still with an unhappy and pained expression.

Naruto glanced up, unsure whether to believe the old man or not. Thoughts were rushing through Naruto's head, he had no idea how he was really supposed to react to the news that he had just been given. Though, through it all it showed that the old man really did care about him and that he wasn't going to treat Naruto badly like the others did. Naruto managed to whisper out "Thank you". Sarutobi's eyebrow raised in confusion, "For what?" he asked in response. Naruto paused for a moment, "For always being there for me when no one else was".

Naruto jumped up and embraced the old man in a hug. Sarutobi at first was unsure how to react, but after a few moments returned the hug. Sarutobi could hear the muffled sound of sniffing and crying in his chest that Naruto had burrowed his head into. He smiled but frowned when his thoughts turned to Minato, the fourth Hokage. He knew that Minato would be extremely disappointed in the village if he knew that Naruto had been treated like this when Minato had envisioned him to be treated like the villages hero and not the bane.

Naruto finally released the old man from the hug. Sarutobi seemed to ponder for a few seconds when he finally focused his attention on Naruto and asked "Naruto, how would you like me to teach you some ninja techniques for defending yourself against these attacks? It's the least I can do for you.". Naruto immediately started jumping up and down with joy and shouted his approval at learning the ninja techniques. It was no secret in the village that Naruto had plans on becoming the next Hokage and he regularly boasted to people how amazing he was going to be. He would tell others that he would surpass the old man and even the fourth Hokage, arguably the best and most skilled Hokage of all time.

Sarutobi still didn't think this was enough to help Naruto at the moment. "Tell you what Naruto, how about we get you out of that awful orphanage and get you into your own apartment?". Naruto looked up excitedly but with curiosity. He looked up to the old man and said "Well.. I'd love to have my own place, but I can't afford it. I don't have any money." Sarutobi smiled. "I'm sure we can solve that. I will pay for your apartment and will give you money each month to pay for food, clothes and other expenses that you might need to pay for." he said. Naruto smiled ear to ear and thanked Sarutobi for his kindness. Of course, the old man was more than happy to help out his friends son anyway possible.

After talking for a little bit more the Hokage asked Naruto to follow him to the Hokage tower, the base of command and operations in the village.

Sarutobi was an old man by any standards. He had short white hair that had started to retreat and a pointed beard, almost making a triangle shape. His worn face showed his many years being a military leader, his dark brown eyes had seen battle. Despite all of this, the old leader had such a loving and affectionate side to him. He treated Naruto with the utmost love, kindness and compassion possible. Naruto to Sarutobi was almost like a grandchild, he was treated like family.

Whilst walking through the streets, with Sarutobi, Naruto was still glared at with the usual dark stares and whispers of "demon" and "monster" could be heard. However, this immediately stopped when Sarutobi let off some killer intent to the surrounding people. Those who were not ninja found themselves collapsing to the group unable to breathe for a few seconds, even some of the ninja looked distressed. Naruto unsure as to why people were starting to collapse looked up to the old man. Sarutobi just winked at Naruto, as to let him know that it had been him responsible for the villagers predicament. Naruto smirked, he really did love the old man.

After a few more minutes the pair finally arrived at the doors of the large Hokage Tower. Sarutobi ushered for Naruto to go forward and walk through the doors. The regular staff in the Hokage Tower were all personally picked by the Hokage himself, so most of them held no hatred for the Naruto boy and some of them even greeted Naruto with a friendly smile. Naruto wasn't sure why people were being so kind to him here, no one had spoken to him yet but the smiles spoke volume in itself. Sarutobi was the only person who had ever really been kind to him so it was a nice change to see people treating him with respect.

Naruto wandered through the Hokage building following Sarutobi innocently up to his office. Once inside the office the Hokage ushered Naruto to take a seat in front of his desk. All was silent for a few moments while the aging Hokage prepared his pipe to smoke. Naruto sat nervously on the chair, fidgeting with his hands. The Hokage opened his mouth, "So Naruto, here's what we're going to do..." the next half an hour was used up by the old Hokage explaining to Naruto when they would be training, where they would be training, what they would be training.

The training schedule was vigorous, Naruto would have to wake up each morning at 5, get to the training grounds at 5:30 and would then train nonstop until 9:30. Training would include laps around the village, lifting weights and other physical activities. These were all in preparation to get Naruto ready for the real training, when he was to learn ninjutsu.


	3. Chapter 3

A month had passes since Naruto had started the intensive training with Sarutobi. Not only had Naruto started to train physically but he had also completely changed his diet on recommendation from the Hokage. At first, getting Naruto to ditch his ramen habit was a bit problem but after a week it turned out that Naruto actually enjoyed the more healthy food. Ramen was now just a treat for the young boy. The combination of exercise and a proper diet had drastically transformed Naruto from an underweight malnourished seven year old to a healthy, averaged weight boy. However, the years of unhealthy eating and laziness had made a lasting effect and it would take a lot more training to get Naruto to his peak physical form for his age.

Even though Naruto was not yet at this peak physical form, Sarutobi decided that it was time to introduce ninjutsu into the training regime.

Now, even though Naruto was like a grandson to the Hokage, the Hokage could not be seen to be treating Naruto as a favourite professionally. He decided that he would be unable to train Naruto in the art of ninjutsu himself, so instead he decided to arrange to have a senior Anbu captain to come out of the Anbu and personally train Naruto himself. Sarutobi pondered to himself for a few moments, asking himself who he could assign to Naruto. Finally, like a light switch had been turned on he thought of the name Kakashi. Of course, this would be perfect choice for Naruto. Immediately he summoned for Kakashi to be called to his office.

Located in a secret part of the village, Kakashi was sat with other Anbu friends in the Anbu headquarters. Kakashi was minding his own business when suddenly an official Anbu appeared next to Kakashi, "Kakashi, the Hokage has requested for your attendance immediately. Please follow me." spoke the Anbu member, his voice bore no emotion it was laced with authority. Kakashi nodded to the Anbu member and they both disappeared from the room, minutes later Kakashi reappeared in the Hokages office.

Kakashi looked forward to see the Hokage with a relaxed expression smoking his pipe. Kakashi waited for the Hokage to tell him why he had been called to the office. "So Kakashi, I expect you are wondering why I have called you here." said the Hokage, with a small smile on his face. Kakashi nodded in response, "Yes Hokage-Sama" he replied. "Kakashi, I have asked you here to request that you train young Naruto Uzumaki in the art of ninjutsu. He has already completed a month of physical training with me to prepare himself." Kakashi was in shock, he assumed the Hokage was going to send him off on another mission not ask him to train someone, let alone Naruto. "But Hokage-Sama, I am in Anbu. I don't think I have time to train the boy." replied Kakashi, still with a confused expression.

The Hokage paused for a few moments. "I have already thought about this Kakashi and I have decided that it is about time that I relinquish you from your Anbu responsibilities. You will become a standard Jonin and will train Naruto. Is that understood?" asked the Hokage. Kakashi nodded in response to the Hokages question. "You are to meet Naruto in training ground 8 tomorrow morning at 4:30. You are dismissed" the Hokage informed Kakashi. Kakashi nodded and bid the Hokage his farewell.

Whilst walking back from the Hokage Tower to his house Kakashi's head was full of questions and thoughts. Never in a million years had he expected to be pulled from Anbu at this age, he was one of the best, if not the best, Anbu captains there was. Regardless, he knew there was no way that he could convince the Hokage otherwise. Dwelling on the situation for a few more moments, Kakashi decided that it might actually be quite a fun experience to train the child. Besides, it would be paying his old Sensei a favour. Something that Kakashi knew was only right.

A few hours earlier Naruto had been sent a telegram from the Hokage. It instructed Naruto to be at training ground 8 at the usual time of 4:30 to meet his new sensei. Naruto had been told that this new sensei would be teaching Naruto the art of ninjutsu. When Naruto had heard this he had been overjoyed, it was always his dream to become a ninja and even one day become a Hokage, even surpassing the great Forth Hokage. This was for Naruto, the start of a journey. A journey that would take him to foreign lands and beyond. Naruto simply couldn't wait for the next day, he set out to make sure all of his equipment was ready and in order for tomorrow so he could leave promptly.

A day had passed and it was now 4 o'clock in the morning. Naruto had woken up, showered, got changed and gathered his equipment. He then began to walk towards the training grounds, Naruto arrived there exactly on time at 4:30. The training ground was fairly basic, it consisted of a large field with a stream running through it. On either sides grew large trees and on one side stood 3 stumps of food sticking up from the ground, Naruto had no idea why these were here. He assumed that they might be for setting up targets, but there purpose wasn't important. He glanced around the training ground looking for his sensei but couldn't find him anywhere.

Naruto decided to start to train while he waited for his sensei to turn up. Naruto decided to build up his stamina by running laps around the training ground repeatedly. It had been an hour when Naruto stopped running and decided that his sensei wasn't probably going to turn up. Naruto was about to leave the training ground and head to the Hokage to ask where his sensei was when he suddenly saw a figure approaching him. From what he could see, the figure was fairly tall and had long silver hair. He also, oddly, had a mask covering his face and his ninja headband was covering one of his eyes.

Naruto didn't know what to make of character by just his appearance so he waited until he got close enough.

The man was now only just a meter away, Naruto greeted him "Hi there. Are you my new sensei?" he asked. The man seemed to smile, despite not being able to see his mouth the way his eye moved upwards seemed to give off a smile. "Hi there Naruto, I'm Kakashi and yes I am your new sensei" Kakashi informed Naruto. "Wait your Kakashi?! I've read so much about you, is it true you know over a thousand jutsu?!" Naruto asked in an excited manner. Kakashi chuckled, "It isn't about how many jutsu you now Naruto, it's about how you use them." Kakashi told Naruto.

Naruto nodded in agreement.

"So Naruto, let's start with the basics shall we." said Kakashi. Kakashi spent the next hour explaining to Naruto the basics of Chakra, what it was and how it works. They started off by practising basic chakra control. They continued the rest of the training period by continuing to train Naruto's chakra control. During this training, Naruto also started to talk to Kakashi about his experiences as a ninja. It was quite odd, they had only just met several hours ago and Kakashi had already found himself telling Naruto about missions he had hardly ever told anyone about. He felt a connection with the boy, like the connection he had with his old sensei. Kakashi had an idea why that connection might be there though, it was obvious if he thought about it.

After the training session was over, Kakashi gave Naruto various scrolls he had in his back pocket and told Naruto that he was to read these every night and increase his knowledge in ninjutsu. Naruto bid farewell to his new sensei and returned home. Once inside his house, the first thing Naruto did was open up the scroll and start to read. He continued to read for the next 3 hours. Naruto's determination to become the best was showing through already at this early age.

The adventure had started.


	4. Chapter 4

It had been a few weeks since Naruto had started his training with Kakashi and things were going well for the yellow haired teen. Naruto, every night for 2 hours, would read and re-read the scrolls that Kakashi had given him until he knew their contents of by heart. For his age, Naruto had an amazing knowledge of the ins and outs of ninjutsu and chakra. Naruto could now access his chakra effectively and had even learnt to control it to a certain degree. He would practise chakra control with Kakashi by focusing chakra to his feet and running up a tree, kunai in hand. He would mark with the kunai how high up on the tree he managed to get to. His aim would always be to get further than last time until he finally got as high as the top of the tree.

It took Naruto a few weeks to finally get to the top of the tree, but once he had made it it meant that he could finally use basic jutsus.

It was midday, Naruto and Kakashi had met up for their training session. A few weeks after they started training, Kakashi decided that they should up the training for Naruto to get the most out of his tutelage. "Naruto, I have decided that it's time for you to learn your first jutsu." Kakashi told Naruto. Naruto gleamed with joy, this was his first jutsu that he was going to learn. Naruto was hoping that it was a powerful jutsu, perhaps one that could level a village or something of that nature. Instead, Kakashi told Naruto he was going to learn a clone jutsu. "What?! A clone jutsu that's lame Kakashi-Sensei!" whined Naruto. Kakashi eye smiled. "Naruto, the shadow clone jutsu isn't just any old clone jutsu. The amazing thing about this jutsu is that you remember and retain memories and skills from the clone when it dispels. This means you could have 5 different clones all working on different jutsu" explained Kakashi.

Naruto looked absoloutely amazed. "So... you mean to say that I could learn 6 different jutsu at the same time?" asked Naruto, still looking completely dumbfounded. Kakashi smiled and gave Naruto a small nod. "That's awesome. Well what are we waiting for, let's start!" shouted Naruto. Kakashi chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm. Kakashi then began to walk Naruto through the handseal required to use the jutsu.

Naruto's first attempts were terrible. Most times he wouldn't get a clone to appear at all, and if he did manage to they usually turned out to be completely wrong. The clones would be pale and normally looked distorted from the original copy. Though, in the end Naruto was able to create an exact replica after trying for another couple of hours. Kakashi started to clap when Naruto finally created the clone.

A few moments after the clone was created Naruto collapsed to his knees and fell unconscious. Kakashi quickly leaped over from the tree branch he was sat on and scooped Naruto into his arms. "He's fallen unconscious from chakra exhaustion.. Well, I guess that's enough for today. Time to take you home Naruto." thought Kakashi. Kakashi was really proud of the kid, he hadn't stopped trying until he finally got it right. Yet again, it reminded him of his old sensei. He was really starting to see the similarities and couldn't help but smile. With Naruto in his arms, he jumped away and ran into the village to Naruto's home.

Naruto's apartment was located in the ninja section of the village. Naruto's apartment was part of a big complex of buildings all in one row, most of them looked to be in quite good condition. This was not the case for Naruto's, his wooden door had dark scorch marks on it and the pain had started to peel off already. This was testament to the hate Naruto received, he had only been living in the apartment for a few months and people had already started to attack the building. Whether that be using fire jutsus at the door or throwing stuff at the walls. Even some windows seemed to be damaged. The window on the side of the building had spider webbed, someone must have thrown something at it, maybe a kunai.

It really upset Kakashi to see the extent of the hate that the village held towards Naruto. The fourth Hokage had intended Naruto to be treated as the hero of the village, the boy that protected the village against the great demon but instead he was treated as the bane of the village. Too many of the villagers were too blinded by their loss that they couldn't realise what was staring them straight in the face: Naruto's innocence. Kakashi knew that one person in particular would be disgusted at this, Naruto's father.

Kakashi realised he had been standing outside Naruto's apartment for a few minutes now and decided that it was time to take him inside. Kakashi strutted up the wooden steps that led to Narutos apartment door, he tried to push on it to open but it would not. Deciding not to cause anymore damage to the apartment Kakashi decided it would be best to enter the apartment through the window. Once inside the apartment Kakashi immediately laid Naruto down on the small bed.

Looking around, Kakashi was surprised how neat and tidy the interior of the apartment was. It was completely different to the outside of the building, inside represented order and the outside represented chaos. It was incredible to see a seven year old boy keep some place so tidy without failure. Though in some ways it did make sense, Naruto was very proud of his apartment, it was one of the first things that Naruto actually owned. It made sense that Naruto wanted to keep it in such a good state.

Kakashi looked down at Naruto and smiled. The kid had gone a long way in a short amount of time. Kakashi was looking forward to continuing with his training with the kid. With one last glance Kakashi jumped out of the window and returned to his daily activities.


End file.
